My wife and I had a marvelous trip to Madagascar in late April to late May. Chameleons, day geckos, night geckos, skinks, snakes, and frogs were diverse and abundant. We hired Alejandro Arteaga and Jose Vieira of Tropical Herping (http://www.tropicalherping.com) as our guides. These folks are adept at finding the creatures to photograph with the additional assistance from local guides. For the rainforest part of our trip we visited Anjozorobe National Park, Andasibe National Park, the region of Ankanin'ny Nofy, and Ranomafana National Park in the eastern part of Madagascar. We then headed into the dry southwestestern part of Madagascar to visit Anjay Community Park, Isalo National Forest, Arboretum d'Antsokay near Toliara, and Reniala National Forest near the town of Ifaty.

The hotel we stayed at in Ifaty was a haven for three species of day geckos (Phelsuma). I knocked two species off my list even before I got to my room! The large Phelsuma standingi was readily found at the restaurant and also in Reniala National Forest.

Representing the Iguanidae family is the interesting Chalarodon madagascariensis, which has a parietal eye that remarkably resembles the appearance of the eyes rendering a three-eyed look to this little iguanid. They were very plentiful in the early mourning hours in the national forest located on stumps and on the sandy soil typical of any good iguanid.

Now on to the plated lizard, the Gerrhosaurids. Tracheloptychus petersi is a rather attractive, colorful lizard. These were not as numerous as the abundant Chalarodon madagascariensis but each day we saw at least three of these handsome lizards. They were found on the ground.

As for skinks, Trachylepis aureopunctatus is a beautiful skink whose head and neck are lined by rows of white spots on a brownish-black ground color. They were commonly found on tree trunks and stumps.

Rounding out the skinks that I photographed is Trachylepis elegans, which is a rather diminutive skink, which can be differentiated from the more common Trachylepis gravenhorstii by the presence of a small patch of reddish scales rostral and dorsal to the forelimbs.

How could a visit to Madagascar not include chameleons? We saw 17 different species on this trip. The guides found a couple of large Furcifer verracosus at Reniala National Forest. Furcifer antimena is also found there but the guide said it had been too dry. So we settled for this impressive specimen.

Enough with the lizards and on to the snakes. Liophidium chabaudi is a rare snake found in a few localities in the arid southwest. It is has a penchant for burrowing in the sandy soil. The snake would burrow into the sand within seconds after its placement on the ground. The photo shows its emergence from the soil substrate.

Preying mantis were commonly seen in various habitats and regions of Madagascar. The one pictured below was subsequently zapped by the tongue of a chameleon. I got the shot of the tongue directly hitting the mantis but unfortunately the focus was way off.

This butterfly (species?) was very cooperative compared to others of this species in Isalo National Park. This one actually gave me many opportunities to photograph it with its wings open instead of closed.

Our transportation to Reniala National Forest on our last day at Ifaty was rather unique. A two Zebu (Madagascar cattle) led cart carried Ale, Jose, Connie, and myself for the short ride. That was a memorable experience in itself!

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